May 2007 ISSUE
President’s Notebook
On the Heels of a Successful Annual Conference, Association Eyes Cooperative Future with ASET
BY JOHN McLEOD, P.ENG.
APEGGA President
As this is being written, your Association has just finished a spectacular Summit Awards Gala, and a very successful Annual General Meeting and Annual Conference. The talent and technical competence of the professionals in this province never cease to amaze me. Congratulations to all the Summit Award Winners. The volunteers and staff of the APEGGA are to be highly commended for the exceptional organization and execution of these events.
The ASET/APEGGA issue and the negotiation and approval of the One Act, Two Associations Memorandum of Understanding have consumed a great deal of time and energy, particularly during the past year. We should again acknowledge the contributions of Larry Staples, P.Eng., who now leaves the executive but was Past President during the negotiations; Past President Dave Chalcroft, P.Eng.; Executive Director & Registrar Neil Windsor, P.Eng.; the team from ASET; and, of course, government-appointed mediator David Jones, QC.
These people crafted the MOU and earned its approval from the memberships of both ASET and APEGGA. The One Act, Two Associations model will soon be before the Alberta Legislature for consideration, largely because of their work.
Once the EGGP Act is revised to reflect the MOU, it will be time to draft the regulation and bylaw amendments required to give effect to the approved changes. Issues will arise during this process and during implementation as well. There are committees to strike and staff procedures to develop, and further consensus between ASET and APEGGA will be required on a number of issues.
The devil is certainly in the details. Your Council heard this phrase a few times during this year’s Annual General Meeting. However, the will exists among all the parties involved to make this process work, so I am confident of the outcome. The negotiating team did the heavy lifting – now it will be the job of the new Council and staff to keep it between the white lines during implementation.
What’s Next?
Looking toward the coming year, I see no single, all-consuming issue, at least not of the magnitude of the ASET-APEGGA negotiations. Still, there will be challenges.
Alberta is undergoing a period of unprecedented growth, which presents tremendous opportunities and challenges to our Association and members. Management of both will be an issue for years to come.
The level of movement of people into the province from other provinces and from outside of Canada is generating great growth within the engineering, geological and geophysical professions. We are encouraging this migration by streamlining our application, approval and registration process, without lowering our standards. More work will continue in this area.
While I hope that growth will continue indefinitely, experience and history say that there will be a slowdown in demand for professional services in the province. While we encourage and facilitate the mobility of professionals into Alberta, we should plan ahead and effect the changes required to make sure the talent of Alberta professionals can be utilized elsewhere, as well.
Between Canadian provinces we have virtual mobility for engineers. A professional engineer of good standing in one province can, with few exceptions, be fully licensed in another province within a relatively short period of time. There are minor issues to be resolved in the administration of the process, and some standard practices that have not been implemented by all provinces, but excellent progress is being made in this area.
The procedure for geoscientists is more difficult, but work is underway to improve the process by developing common standards and procedures. And great progress is being made on developing a national database of both engineers and geoscientists.
Internationally, Canada has recognition of accreditation agreements with a number of countries whose standards of education and professional practice are comparable. The major mobility issue exists with the United States. For several years the executives of APEGGA and in particular Mr. Windsor, your Executive Director & Registrar, have been in contact with various states.
As in Canada, registration and regulation of professional engineers is the jurisdiction of the individual states. Whereas Canada accredits its university programs based on agreed national standards, the U.S. confirms technical competence through both accreditation and exams. This has made transfer of professionals from Canada to the U.S. difficult. Progress has been made during the past year, however, and we look to establish reciprocity with as many states as possible.
Your new Council gathers this month to review the APEGGA strategic plan and establish priorities and goals for the upcoming year. The strategic plan for the next three and 10- year periods will also be reviewed and modified as required. The outcomes of the strategic sessions will be reported in future PEGG articles.
I look forward to the input and the fresh perspective of the new members of Council, as well as the advice of the experienced returning members.
We are living in exciting and interesting times. I look forward to hearing your concerns and comments. The year ahead will be full of challenges, but I am confident we can make progress in key areas.